Title: "Everyone In America Is Even More Broke Than You Think"

Question: Compared to what?

First paragraph: "The massive and growing gulf between rich and poor..."

Okay, so the not-rich are "not rich" compared to the rich. Details at 11.

Or, in other words, if Rihanna cuts a new single tomorrow and I buy it, Rihanna will be richer. If the single is any good, I will also be richer, in the terms that matter: my life satisfaction. The Huffington Post will only consider my cash position, even though I don't eat dollars, and consider me "more broke."

I continue to struggle to understand the attention given to relative measures of well-being compared to absolute measures of well-being.

Reading on:

Highlighting this gap, more than half of U.S. wage earners made less than $30,000 last year ... not far above the $27,010 that marked the federal poverty line for a family of five in 2012.

Wouldn't it make more sense to compare the income of a single wage earner to the poverty line for a family of one? But that number is only $11,170, and does not support such a sensational comparision.

Why does the poverty line increase when there are more mouths to feed in a household? The Department of Health and Human Services appears to recognize that people, on average, create more than they consume, which goes a long way to explaining the success of our species.

Much of the gap between low and high-earning households can be explained by common-sense causes:

1. Households with higher incomes have more earners per household.

2. Households with lower incomes more often have people with no income.

3. Households with higher incomes are much more likely to have a married couple.

4. Households with higher incomes more often have people in the prime earning ages of 35-64.

5. Households with higher incomes more often have at least one full-time adult worker.

6. Households with higher incomes more often have better-educated people.

These characteristics are not evidence of a permanent, entrenched gap. Rather, it shows that many people begin life in the lower, red section of the infographic, and progress into the higher-earning blue and even black sections. Those who make good decisions about education and cohabitation are more likely to follow this path to prosperity.

It isn't easy for everyone, and some people enjoy advantages that others lack. But I was surprised by the results of the Income Mobility Quiz at how typical it was for people to escape the lowest rung of poverty, often leaping right to the top.